Farmer Ato Choki feels bittersweet emotions following the liberation of his northern Iraq community this month from more than a year of brutal Islamic State rule. “I was very happy to see the city free, but it's all destroyed,” he lamented - USA Today

For the past two weeks, Salem Street – the main thoroughfare through Iraqi Kurdistan's second city of Sulaymaniyah – has been blocked by hundreds of striking civil servants demanding their unpaid salaries - International Business Times

The clicking of high heels on marble flooring announces the arrival of Helly Luv as she sweeps through the lobby, her manager trailing behind. Businessmen in dark suits turn their heads, drawn by a cloud of perfume, cascades of brilliant red hair and an armoury of jangling gold bling. Taking a seat on a leather divan, the Kurdish pop star introduces herself and orders a coffee - Esquire Middle East

Guerrillas fighting for the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) against the Islamic State say they will not heed the request of President Massoud Barzani to withdraw from the Kurdish region of northern Iraq - Rudaw

Two westerners injured in the same explosion that killed Australian Reece Harding say he hoped to return home to a normal life but feared prosecution for having joined a Kurdish militia to fight against Islamic State - Sydney Morning Herald

Tens of thousands of Syrians have fled fighting in the northern city of Hassakeh, with residents describing widespread panic following a sustained assault by so-called Islamic State (IS) militants - IRIN

For months, Kurdish peshmerga fighters have been taking up positions around Mosul, Iraq’s second city and a stronghold for the Islamic State of Iraq and Al­Sham. It is now surrounded on three sides and in some cases the front lines are just kilometres away, says a peshmerga spokesman - National Post

It’s 4 am and the rest of Erbil is silent. At the heart of downtown, the ancient citadel looms over the sleeping city. At its foot, the usually bustling bazaar is strangely empty, narrow streets cleanly swept and storefronts shuttered - Roads & Kingdoms

Since Islamic State extremists overran much of northern Iraq last summer, the office of Vian Rasheed Younis has been responsible for coordinating the humanitarian response for the Iraqis who have fled to the relative safety of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region - Dallas Morning News

For many Iraqi Christians commemorating Easter Sunday, this year’s church services were not just a time for marking the Resurrection, but a time to reflect on their future, with many considering new beginnings overseas - National Post